NEWCASTLE University professor Stephen Graham was forced to come to court for criminal damage charges after not turning up for his hearing.

Stephen Graham did not enter pleas to four charges of criminal damage when he appeared at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court.

The 47-year-old, from Lansdowne Gardens, Jesmond, a specialist in cities and urban life at the university, was charged with four counts of criminal damage after 24 vehicles were attacked while parked in the affluent Northumberland Gardens, Jesmond, in August.

The polite graffiti scratched on them reportedly included the words “very silly”, “really wrong” and “arbitrary” and were thought to have been etched into the paintwork with a screwdriver.